Two words almost ended Charlie Parr's career.

[@kostringworks]

Thanks for watching folks! If ya just can't get enough, check out Rare Radio over on Patreon! Rare Radio is a weekly deep-dive into my record collection, aimed to highlight overlooked songs and players from the folk tradition.⬇⬇⬇ www.patreon.com/kostringworks

[@brianbeattympls]

"Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett

[@kostringworks]

That is perfect.

[@clevelandthomsen7042]

It is no exaggeration that I tell someone that Charlie Parr is my hero at least once a month. I have always been fascinated with his right hand technique, and I knew it was caused by a medical issue, but I'm so glad to hear it more fully explained. I have 3 guitar exercises: play like Kelly Joe Phelps, Play like Reverend Peyton, and Play like Charlie Parr. It mostly just changes what my thumb does and of course I sound NOTHING LIKE ANY OF THEM. But it's a valuable exercise. I love letting my thumb fly all over the place while I pretend to be Charlie. I'm thankful it's not out of necessity, though. Kyle, I'm a big of yours in general, but you could do weekly videos of Charlie reading the paper and I'd watch every minute. Keep up the great work!

[@3653-w2s]

I hate to say it, but I only discovered Charlie a few years back. My first impression was, man, this guy's weird but he's really cool, especially his toothpaste monologue. And his style really is quite impressive, to say the least. Then, here's this interview. Now, I'm thinking this man's not weird. He's a freaking genius!

[@kostringworks]

Ha! Well I’m glad you found this then!

[@CBbehereNOW]

Beautiful. Positivity. Old Soul. Learning always. Lose or win, it's how you play the game.

[@kostringworks]

So well said! Thanks for that.

[@cruelycruel1032]

Charlie is king, I could listen to him read the back of cereal boxes.. literally, a wealth of knowledge and funny too, more of this please Kyle, really enjoyed it, thank you ✊🙏

[@kostringworks]

Appreciate you! I'm sure it won't be the last time Charlie pops in for a vid, I'll try to bring some cereal next time just for you haha.

[@ryzusun]

A true legend. Humbleness and forever learning, Charlie inspires my learning always.

[@kostringworks]

Same. Glad ya found this!

[@RoseAkerman]

This is so interesting. As a person who didn't start playing until I was 70, and having very small hands, I had to discover ways to play that I could manage. Charlie is amazing!

[@kostringworks]

Dude heck yeah for starting at 70! I have a student who started fiddle at 70 too, she's doing awesome. Glad you're finding your way!

[@jasonw4053]

Thanks for making this and being a great interviewer. Charlie is a treasure and getting to see him go in depth with his picking and how he's adapted is awesome for us who appreciate his playing. Plus, seeing him velcro the handstrap onto his Mule is just hilarious and the most Charlie Parr thing ive ever seen.

[@kostringworks]

Haha, yeah man he’s got his thing DIALED. Thanks for stopping over!

[@rjensen2586]

I just learned things about him that I had no idea of when I saw him play a few years back. It was such a moving performance and we even got to meet him after the show, out in the snow, haha. He's such a kind person. I'll never forget it.

[@wooggeek]

Love you both, keep talking😊. Regarding the palm rest/ hand strap I have a steel Paul beard with 4 screws and a Gretch honey dripper that is soldered at the factory. I heated, required a torch, and removed the hand strap. I am going to tap the cover plate to at least have it removable with screws. That body and cover plate is brass so magnets would be out but could be an option for Charlie especially with a position pin.Thinking of the spin slots, I may keyhole the hand strap holes I make. Thumb screws 2 keyholed where the holes arc a circle to spin off. Thanks Charlie! By the way, I am that guy that asked you to sign the inside of my reso body at your concert with Phil Cook. The reso neck stick / steel banjo style prosthetic "neck stick" has remained a success! (Someone sold me a reso with the neck stick removed 😢/ that was my comeback story 😊) Resorisen 🙏

[@kostringworks]

We were also bumming about magnets, would be the perfect solution! Sounds like you’ve got some great stuff, love your style of making stuff work! I’ll tell Charlie you say hey!!!

[@DylanWalshe]

The ever brilliant Charlie 💚

[@kostringworks]

Absolutely. Thanks for watching!

[@devin.thunhorst]

This is great. I have three friends, 2 of which are musical heroes of mine who have had strokes in the last couple years. I’m watching all 3 of them slowly relearn to play and I am going to send this video to them as encouragement

[@kostringworks]

Dude I love to hear that bud. Me and a buddy are actually hoping to interview a mutual influence who’s coming back to music in a really inspiring way after a stroke too. Fingers crossed it comes together!

[@dgrebin]

Just saw Charlie live and he played electric all night. Another case of dystonia is Billy McLaughlin. Switched to playing left handed... Crazy!

[@kostringworks]

Love Charlie’s electric set, was it the one at the Dakota? And yes, I heard that about McLaughlin, so nuts!

[@myradioon]

Glad he mentioned Jack Rose.

[@kostringworks]

The best.

[@singingnearthedoorway6168]

Oliver Wood had tights-whities inside his beautiful Guild for YEARS. Next project for you, Kyle? More seriously: this is a wondrous, profound clip. Three bows to you and Mr. Parr, both.

[@kostringworks]

Ha! That’s amazing. Thanks for the tip, and twice the same for watching!

[@billallen1594]

Great video. Thank you both

[@kostringworks]

Thanks Bill!!

[@densphoto]

I heard a Psyc Dr. from Stanford, I think. Been a while @10 yrs. Talk about focal dystonia on a podcast. His basic suggestion was to "Trick your Mind" into forgetting the actions causing this, as Charlie has stated. At the time, I to was feeling my hand 'giving' up on me. Also, its when I decided I had better learn to play slide if my fingers were going to fail my finger picking style. Still an issue, but manageable (meh!?!). Gathering up Charlies picking style and making it my base, may have helped the process. Good damn listen Kyle, thank you, and Cheers to Charlie too.

[@kostringworks]

Nice! Dr. Parr, I'll let him know. I'm still processing how the hell Charlie can manage to "keep ahead of the brain", while shredding Blind Blake. Glad you're able to figuring out your own way to keep playing dude. It's all a process, keep on. Thanks as always for stopping in!

[@densphoto]

@@kostringworks "Find a way to move forward." Someone said this during my bicycle racing days (30+yrs). That quote stuck with me.

[@heymrguitarman7637]

Damn, Charlie is just a special talent. And also if the music ever dries up, Charlie could make a fortune as an audio book narrator. Such an interesting man

[@kostringworks]

Ha! Gotta have that back pocket plan. Thanks for stopping over!

[@mrsweettater]

"I want some coffee in a dirty cup!" That should be in a song!!!

[@kostringworks]

Hahah, yeah man definitely a Parr song in the making! Thanks for watching!

[@liammcooper]

amazing

[@kostringworks]

Thanks for watching!

[@tommytramp]

VERY INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO I took notice to his Hand over a couple years ago in some of his videos .His thumb and pointer finger hitting the strings and the rest of his fingers tightly curled into his palm I thought it was just how he picked I even tried to pick that way because at the time I was teaching myself how to use finger picks and I was only using a thumb pick and one fingerpick The way he picked looked cool to me at the time ,I tried and it was too tense for me and I could not get enough palm mute so I went back to locking my pinky back down on the guitar I.Now I know why Charlie picked that way , He Found ways to deal with his Focal Dystonia and moving on , Takes Me back to all those Great Blind players ,With what thing you struggle with can make other things much stronger.. It is true ... LOVE HIS VELCRO TRICK for Hand REST Hey What is the deal with paper in steel body Resonator I play a Duco 12 fret Duolian Now Should be putting paper in it?

[@kostringworks]

Thanks dude! Glad the vid helped shed some light on his technique for ya. I wonder how many Velcro hand strap mods we’re gonna start seeing now? Haha. The news paper is to mellow out some of the frequencies. Reminds me of how banjo players stick a rag in their banjos. As far as what you should do, maybe! What have ya got to lose!? Thanks for checking out the vid and saying hey!

[@kylanmcnichols6525]

thank you so much for shedding some light on this particular debilitating 'mind-body syndome,' lets say. (I don't want to call FD a disease.) I've suffered from this for almost 3 years and some days it feels hopeless like I'll never be able to play at more than 50% of my ability again. If anyone can help or has the Julian Lage video in question, please send it my way.

[@kostringworks]

Yeah man, I think framing this in a healthier way is super important. The Julian lage video is over on Rick Beatos KZbin channel!

[@kylanmcnichols6525]

@@kostringworks thank you so much man, love you as an interviewer and just discovered this channel yesterday. Even as more of a metal, blues and fusion kind of guy predominantly I'm loving all the folk and acoustic stuff you're documenting and I think you've got lightning in a bottle with this channel. Keep it coming. Love that video on the reclaimed Collings and the spider John/Charlie Parr lore has also been super interesting!

[@kostringworks]

@@kylanmcnichols6525 thanks so much for the encouragement! I grew up on metal and jazz so, kindred hearts! That spider john interview’s the best thing I’ve ever been apart of, glad you found it!

[@BluesSky]

Always stay ahead of the brain!

[@kostringworks]

Harder than we all might think!

[@jenayadawe6161]

love love LOVE. (I "just" have essential tremor and am a shit guitarist anyway,) thank you for this. and thank you, Charlie, for you.

[@kostringworks]

Makes me feel so good seeing this. Glad you're finding a way to keep music in your life no matter the circumstance!

[@thestereoclub6735]

Scott Divine of Scott's Bass Lessons has FD, and copes by wearing gloves.

[@kostringworks]

Dude I saw that. Amazing.